


At the End of the World

by SpraceJunkie



Category: Newsies - All Media Types
Genre: M/M, Post-Apocalypse, disclaimer: i have no idea how the world it actually going to end, written For The Aesthetic tm
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-07
Updated: 2019-05-14
Packaged: 2020-02-27 17:59:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18744193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpraceJunkie/pseuds/SpraceJunkie
Summary: The end of the world came slowly.It started the way some people had always known it would, with the world’s climate changing rapidly as the rich watched without doing anything. Hot places caught fire, cities burned.Les had been born into a world on fire.





	1. Chapter 1

The end of the world came slowly.

It started the way some people had always known it would, with the world’s climate changing rapidly as the rich watched without doing anything. Hot places caught fire, cities burned.

People adjusted.

The rich controlled more and more.

The rich got richer. The poor got poorer.

The fires spread.

People couldn’t adjust any more.

And now the world was a flame-bathed wasteland. The rich hid away in gated communities protected by firefighters and police, the poor wandered from place to place.

The rich pretended nothing was wrong while the poor relied on breaking radios and the little food and water they could find.

“Water...restaurant...Pulitzer Towers….today!” Davey’s radio kept getting interrupted by static in the middle of the cheerful commercial for New York’s richest community he’d heard a thousand times.

As if anyone listening to the radio could afford to live there.

“Davey, the old corner store has lights on,” Les whispered from behind him, making him jump.

“What?”

“The Deli. There are lights on. But I didn’t see anyone inside.” Les sat down in front of Davey, frowning at the radio. “What’s it doing?”

“Breaking,” Davey sighed. “There isn’t anybody inside the deli?”

“I didn’t see anyone.”

“We should see if there’s food inside. There was last time.” 

“We took it all.”

“Somebody’s been there if they got the generator running. They might have left food behind if they left.” Davey reached to switch off the radio and wrap it up to hide in his pack.

He and Les didn’t have much. Or anything at all, really. They had their backpacks that at this point were more patches than the original fabric. Their radio, though that didn’t seem like it’d be worth carrying around for much longer. The clothes on their backs and Les had an extra pair of pants he’d found a few months ago in case the ones he wore tore.

Whatever food and water they could find, usually enough they didn’t die but their mouths were dry and their stomachs rumbled.

Les followed him towards the Deli on the almost empty streets.

Small fires burned on top of tall roofs and in piles of garbage on the streets, some obviously started by people and others likely a result of the still rapidly heating world.

The first fire had started before Les was born when Davey was six. He remembered the newscasts, the horrifying images of a fire that swept through the Amazon faster than firefighters from around the world could keep up. The rainforest hadn’t seen much rain in years, and it was so dry it was practically gone in a month.

They’d never figured out if it was started by a human or nature.

After that, news of fires came flooding in seemingly daily. Miami burned practically to the ground, a picture of the Hollywood sign in flames became the most famous picture on the planet.

Les had been born into a world on fire.

The first fire in New York had started on his third birthday, and they hadn’t stopped.

New York was one of the lucky places, too. Some of the city was still standing because the big fires were stopped before they could reach any of the rich communities that were dotted through the landscape. Cities that didn’t have those communities weren’t even cities anymore. They were just gone.

Davey hadn’t seen pictures in years, not with pretty much all of organized civilization moved behind gates and walls, but he couldn’t forget the ones he’d seen of burned out buildings against a sky that was red through the smoke.

This was the worst case scenario. The nightmare world they’d never thought would actually come.

And now it was Davey and Les against the world on fire. No parents, they’d died in one of the fires a couple of years ago. No place to go, nobody else with them. They had each other, and that would have to be enough.

“See? Lights.”

“I believed you, Les.” Davey studied the front of the Deli, trying to see inside through the grimy windows. “Let’s go before somebody else gets here.”

Les pulled his hat down tight and nodded.

He had too much fun doing stuff like this. Mama and Papa would have been ashamed at how proud Les was of how good he was at stealing things, except that was what they needed to do to survive, so maybe they wouldn’t have been.

Either way, Les was smiling when he darted across the street to try the door. It opened slightly and he waved Davey towards him.

They slipped inside the Deli quietly, Davey right behind Les, and split off to different sides of the door, looking for anything worth taking.

They’d broken into the Deli before and found enough food to last for weeks.

It was much more empty now. The generator was in the back room, sputtering and coughing like it was thirty seconds from dying completely. The lights held steady, though, and other than that it was silent.

“Davey,” Les whispered, triumphantly holding up a first aid kit for Davey to see. “Almost full.”

“Keep it.” Davey turned back to the shelf he’d been examining, pulling cans of fruit, meat, vegetables, even a few cans of soup. Cans like that were rarely found out here now, with almost all production going straight to gated communities. He stuffed as many cans into his backpack as he could fit, knowing he’d regret the weight but not the food when they started walking again. This much food was worth a hundred bruises and some extra exhaustion.

“Davey, people are coming,” Les whispered, and Davey turned to see him peering out the window. “Four.”

“Here?”

“I think so.”

“Hide, then!” Davey opened the door to the back room and waved Les over. Seconds after he closed the door behind them, the front door opened.

“Somebody’s been in here since they left, Racer, look at the shelves.”

“I didn’t see anybody come in.”

“Didn’t you say you saw a kid?”

“Yeah, but he ran away the opposite direction.”

“And you haven’t looked away for a second?”

“Not long enough for somebody to get in and out!”

The first voice laughed, sounding genuinely amused.

“Whattaya think, Alby, think we chose a bad lookout?”

“Obviously,” a third voice said, also sounding amused.

“Don’t know why you’d pick him out of everybody else when we all know he can’t sit still for five minutes, let alone two hours,” a fourth voice said, and Alby and the first voice laughed.

“Oh, fuck off, Romeo,” Racer said, but he didn’t sound as angry as his words were.

“Doesn’t matter, there’s still plenty. Grab what you can and we’ll get going. Romeo, check the back room. See if you can disable that generator and get some parts out for Crutchie. Might as well be a pain in the ass for good ‘ole Oscar and Morris if we can.”

Davey reached out in the dark for Les’s hand and squeezed as tight as he could.

This was probably it. If they were a gang, and it sounded like they were, they wouldn’t be too happy with finding two boys hiding in the back room with backpacks full of supplies from the same place they were raiding.

Davey and Les pressed back behind the generator as far as they could get.

The door opened and Davey blinked in the light that flooded in before his eyes adjusted to see a boy who probably wasn’t much younger than him, maybe fifteen or sixteen, looking at him and Les hiding in the corner.

“Hey, Jacky? Maybe Race didn’t look away long enough for somebody to get in and out.”

“What makes you say that, Rome?” The first voice, now identified as Jacky, got closer to the room, and Romeo stepped away from the door, saying something inaudible.

A taller boy, maybe even an adult took his place in the doorway, and he was much more intimidating. Romeo was short. He had been wearing a beat up pair of sneakers, a worn hoodie, and jeans with holes in the knees. He didn’t look dangerous or threatening or like he’d hurt them at all, even with the blue bandana he had tied around his mouth as if it would work as a gas mask.

This guy was a bit scarier. He was taller, older, and was standing and looking down at them like he was the king of the world and they’d just offended him. Davey couldn’t see most of his face between the beanie he had pulled down to his forehead that brought his curly hair down to his eyes and the red bandana that covered everything below his eyes. He was wearing a patched jean jacket with a million pockets that looked like he’d made them himself that bulged with who knows what. The jacket was covered in bright red streaks, as were his jeans and workboots like he’d just been in a very bloody fight.

“You saw the lights too, huh?”

His words were very discordant with his look. He sounded friendly enough, and he stepped further into the room and offered a hand to Davey.

“You know the guys whose stockpile it is? You’re lucky we caught you and not them.”

Davey wordlessly took his hand and stood up, pulling Les up behind him.

“You guys alone?” When neither Davey nor Les responded, his eyes crinkled like he was smiling under the bandana. “Don’t talk much, do you? We ain’t gonna hurt you, you know. We’re here for food the same as you.”

“They’re due back in a few minutes, Jacky, we should run. Hey! That’s the kid I saw!” A tall, thin boy with a green bandana around his face and an obviously full backpack on one shoulder appeared in the doorway.

“Looks like he ran off to find his brother. Nice watchdog duty, Race.” Now Davey could hear the smile in Jacky’s voice like he’d never heard of anything as funny as finding two kids hiding in the back of a building he was raiding. “You guys get the rest?”

“Nothing left for our old friends,” Racer said, also obviously grinning, eyebrows raised. “We should scram before they get back, though.”

“Let’s go.” Jacky let go of Davey’s hand, flipped his hand in a little salute, and slipped out the door. Davey stepped to the door of the back room and watched all four of the boys who’d entered the Deli after them leave, a redheaded one without a hat who must have been Alby playfully punching Racer and all of their shoulders shaking like they were laughing.

“You ever see them before, Davey?”

“No. C’mon, Les, let’s get out of here.”

All the food on the shelves that Davey hadn’t gotten into his backpack was gone, as was pretty much anything small enough to fit in a backpack that wasn’t nailed down. Without looking back or dropping Les’s hand, Davey left the Deli.

“Where’re we sleeping tonight?”

“The Ritz, obviously.”

“So the good building three blocks away?” Les laughed, like he’d already forgotten how scared he’d been ten minutes ago.

“You have a better idea?”

“Nah.”


	2. Chapter 2

When the end of the world started, most people hadn’t thought it was the end of the world. Once they figured it out, the world went crazy.

When the rich packed their bags and moved behind tall walls and spiked gates, bringing the economy and means of production with them, the poor were left to fend for themselves. Many had become roamers, wandering from place to place around the city alone or in small groups, looking for any place to stay that wouldn’t burn them to the ground. Those who stayed in one place had essentially two choices. Join a gang or tough it alone.

Davey hadn’t seen the boys from the Deli again in the two weeks since he and Les had been found in the back room, but he was pretty sure they were part of a gang. All of them had had brightly colored bandanas tied around their faces, had had interesting names, and obviously knew each other well without looking like they were related. All of those things pointed to a gang.

But even though he’d never seen them before and hadn’t seen them since, he couldn’t get them out of his head. He couldn’t figure them out.

They’d come into the Deli and cleared it out, taking everything with them. All the food, all the extra supplies Les had been going through, nothing was left.

And yet they’d seen Davey’s backpack full of food. They’d noticed he’d taken stuff, too, they knew he had it. But they hadn’t tried to take it from him. The scary looking one had pulled him up by the hand and seemingly smiled at him before leaving with what they had and letting Davey and Les take theirs.

That wasn’t how gangs usually operated. Usually, they stuck together so they _could_ take from people who found stuff before them. If they were a gang it definitely wasn’t a normal gang.

“Davey, come look at this!” Les called from somewhere up ahead of Davey, invisible in the smoke from a fire that had just gone out.

“What is it?”

“Another tunnel collapsed, and I think we can get down through this one.”

“Why would we want to?”

“I dunno. To see what’s still down there?”

“A bunch of old trains and already looted stations.”

“Ghosts! Treasure!”

Times like this forced Davey to remember that even with the world they lived in, Les was still a kid. A ten-year-old kid who’d just found a place to explore and was excited about it.

“Come show me,” Davey called, searching for Les in the smoke.

Les appeared out of nowhere, sweatshirt zipped up over his mouth to help him breathe through the smoke and eyes watering.

“Right over here.” Les grabbed Davey’s hand and started pulling him towards the collapse he’d found, practically jumping with excitement. “The whole street caved in but I think we could walk right down!”

“Really?”

“Yeah! And the closest station isn’t for blocks, we’d be in the real tunnels!” Les stopped and pointed at the collapse that was now visible through the smokey air. It really did look like they could walk down the rubble into the subway tunnels without even having to crawl.

“Be careful, Les, you don’t want to fall down that.”

“I won’t! Come on, Davey, don’t you want to explore?”

“Not particularly,” Davey muttered, but he made sure Les didn’t hear him.

He didn’t get the chance to be this excited and childlike very often, and it was good for him.

Les scrambled down the steep pile of rubble, pebbles, and pieces on concrete tumbling down with him, and Davey followed him, slower and much more carefully.

The tunnels were dark. Davey wasn’t sure what he’d expected, but for some reason that surprised him. He could see, but barely, and he wasn’t really sure what he was looking at half the time.

Les was running up ahead of him, the sound of his footsteps echoing off the tunnel walls. Davey walked behind him, keeping a hand on the wall so he couldn’t get lost.

“Slow down!” Davey called when Les’s footsteps got too distant and quiet. “You’ll get lost!”

“I’m fine,” Les yelled back. “I know where I-” Les cut himself off with a shriek.

“Les? Les! What happened!” Davey broke into a run, wishing he could see better.

“I fell!” Les said from somewhere up ahead.

“Keep talking so I can find you!”

“I’m right here! I hurt my ankle.”

Davey’s eyes had adjusted enough to be able to see Les sitting on the ground, holding his ankle.

“What happened, Les?”

“I was running and my foot got stuck in between the tracks.” Les was obviously trying very hard not to cry, even in the low light.

Davey exhaled and pulled Les’s hands away from his ankle, trying to see how bad he was hurt. If it was just a twisted ankle, he could walk it off. Maybe with a limp, but they both knew that that was something that could be handled.

A broken ankle, though, that couldn’t be walked off. That would mean weeks of Les not being able to walk, of having to stay in one place. That was dangerous, it would make it so easy for somebody to find them and take their food and supplies, it could honestly be the end of them.

“Ow,” Les said quietly, squeezing his eyes shut.”It hurts really bad.”

“I know, Lessy, let me see it.”

In the low light, Davey couldn’t really see Les’s ankle well enough to tell by sight, but it didn’t feel good. He was pretty sure something that wasn’t supposed to be sticking out was sticking out.

Les hissed in pain at Davey’s touch.

“I think it’s broken.”

“Maybe. We need to get somewhere with better light. Let me pick you up.”

Les wrapped his arms around Davey’s neck and let himself get lifted up, pressing his face into Davey’s shoulder.

“Ow,” he whispered.

“It’ll be fine, Les, we’ll wrap it up when we get out.” Davey started walking back in the direction they came, trying to keep his footsteps as steady as possible to keep from moving Les’s leg too much.

“Did you hear that?” Les said after a couple of minutes of silent walking.

“What?”

“I think somebody’s coming.” 

Davey stopped walking and listened, trying to hear what Les had.

“I don’t hear anything, Les.”

“Footsteps coming from the cave in. You don’t hear it?”

“No-”

“Somebody else is down here!” An unfamiliar voice called from somewhere beyond them, and Davey swore under his breath, pressing against the wall like that would hide them from whoever was coming their way.

“Seriously?”

“Yeah! Just heard ‘em talking!”

The voices were coming from beyond the bend closest to them, and Davey started to be able to see a light approaching, making shadows dance on the walls.

Great. They had lights. For the second time in two weeks, Davey was moderately sure he and his brother were about to die, and he doubted they’d get as lucky as they had the first time again.

Davey slid down the wall, holding Les tightly and hoping beyond hope that their lights would pass over them.

No such luck.

The bright beam of a flashlight landed right on them, blinding Davey instantly. The person holding the light let out a piercing whistle, and Davey heard more sets of footsteps speed up towards them.

“Hey, it’s you guys again!” somebody said, sounding genuinely happy to see them. Which would have been fine, except Davey had no idea who was talking.

The light lowered, and Davey blinked, trying to readjust his eyes to see who was talking.

Three people were standing in front of them. Beat up sneakers, old looking jeans, ratty sweatshirts. The uniform of pretty much anyone living on the streets.

Brightly colored, clean bandanas tied around the bottom half of their faces.

One of the bandanas was bright, almost neon green, and that was the person who was talking to them.

“Jack was trying to find out if you made it out. Guess you did.”

The green one in the Deli had been called Racer, and Davey was pretty sure this was the same guy.

“Race, the little guy’s hurt,” one of the other guys said, the one with a purple bandana. Racer’s eyes snapped down to Les, who was still hiding his face in Davey’s shoulder.

“What happened?” he asked, squatting down and shining his own light on Les’s ankle.

It was worse than Davey had hoped. Nothing was bleeding, but there was a visible break, and it was already swollen and bruised.

“He tripped,” Davey said. Racer touched Les’s ankle gently and frowned when he whimpered and pressed closer to Davey.

“You have stuff to take care of that?”

“We’ll be fine.”

It didn’t matter if these guys hadn’t hurt them, trusting them probably wouldn’t be a good idea either.

Davey and Les would manage.

They always managed.

“So, no. Specs, run back and let Jack know we got a coupla boarders. C’mon, you two, we got a nice little hospital set up back at camp.” Racer grabbed Davey’s arm and pulled him to his feet. “Finch, you good to go, or do you want somebody down here with you?”

“I’ll be fine,” the one with the purple bandana said, glancing off towards the tunnels Davey and Les had been wandering in before Les got hurt. “Might be easier by myself anyway.”

“Nice, Finch.” Racer snorted and smacked him in the arm. Finch hit him back before turning and running into the dark, his flashlight making it look like the walls were caving in from shadows. “You two got names?” When Davey didn’t say anything, Racer laughed. “Don’t talk much, huh? Doesn’t matter.” He tugged the bandana off his face and folded it quickly, then pulled Les’s leg towards him and tied it tightly. “I know that hurt,” he said when Les whimpered again. “But it helps with the swelling.”

Without the bandana, he got much less intimidating. He had a thin face and his mouth seemed to be permanently tilted in a half smile, even while he was concentrating on tying his bandana around Les’s ankle.

“Where are we going?” Les said, clutching Davey’s sweatshirt tightly but finally looking at Racer.

“Home, obviously. Jack’s been looking for you guys anyway.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heyo I'm back and if I follow my pattern this fic won't be updated for another like, six months so enjoy it while you can djglagdjkgldsglkdh

**Author's Note:**

> heyo it's me back with another wip even though I have like...twenty oops. Anyway I write 95% of everything bc I like worldbuilding and aesthetic so that's where this came from.
> 
> As always, leave a comment, let me know what you think, I always want to know! Also come hang out on Tumblr, @enby-crutchie!


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